Renewing our Mind: Reformed Epistemology and the Task of Apologetics

2017 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-125
Author(s):  
Randall Otto
Keyword(s):  
God's Word ◽  
Cornelius Van Til ◽  
Reformed Epistemology ◽  
Van Til

The presuppositional approach of Cornelius Van Til draws on the epistemological ideas found in Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper to bring Reformed epistemology and its application to apologetics into line with its Calvinist foundations. This transcendental approach accents the ultimacy of God for all knowledge over against the Kantian transcendental critique which, with its accent on autonomy, forms the basis for all approaches to knowledge that do not start with the necessity of the revelation of God in creation and Scripture. The Christian cannot by his method deny what God’s Word has made clear to him, that he is dependent on God for all truth, meaning, and coherence.

scholarly journals The covenantal trinitarian alternative to the scholastic dilemma

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy G.A. Ive
Keyword(s):  
John Calvin ◽  
The World ◽  
Cornelius Van Til ◽  
Institutional Church ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Van Til

This article sets out what it calls the ‘scholastic dilemma’ about whether God’s relation to the world is necessary or contingent – the former is based on a view of God primarily as intellect and the latter on a view of God primarily as will. In his dictum, Deus legibus solutus est sed non exlex, John Calvin rejects both these positions. The trinitarian basis for this dictum was spelt out more fully by later Calvinistic thinkers, including Abraham Kuyper and Cornelius van Til. Implicitly for Calvin and explicitly for Kuyper and Van Til, the love of the Persons of the Trinity for one another is the basis for God’s covenantal trustworthiness in his dealings with the world. Recognising this trinitarian basis allows us to conceive of God as at once faithful in his dealing with the world, and yet not dependent on the world for his existence. This has profound and far-reaching implications for our understanding of society, including the universal and institutional church and a recognition of the priority of relationships, both theoretically and practically.

scholarly journals Knowledge and the Fall in American Neo-Calvinism: Toward a Van Til–Plantinga Synthesis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Bálint Békefi
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Alvin Plantinga ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
Christian Worldview ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Sensus Divinitatis ◽  
Cornelius Van Til ◽  
Van Til

Abstract Cornelius Van Til and Alvin Plantinga represent two strands of American Protestant philosophical thought influenced by Dutch neo-Calvinism. This paper compares and synthetizes their models of knowledge in non-Christians given the noetic effects of sin and non-Christian worldview commitments. The paper argues that Van Til’s distinction between the partial realization of the antithesis in practice and its absolute nature in principle correlates with Plantinga’s insistence on prima facie–warranted common-sense beliefs and their ultimate defeasibility given certain metaphysical commitments. Van Til endorsed more radical claims than Plantinga on epistemic defeat in non-Christian worldviews, the status of the sensus divinitatis, and conceptual accuracy in knowledge of the world. Finally, an approach to the use of evidence in apologetics is developed based on the proposed synthesis. This approach seeks to make more room for evidence than is generally recognized in Van Tilianism, while remaining consistent with the founder’s principles.

From Antithesis to Synthesis

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-374
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Gray Sutanto
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Synthesis Strategy ◽  
Common Grace ◽  
Cornelius Van Til ◽  
Van Til

Recent scholarship further substantiates the observation that Cornelius Van Til depends on Herman Bavinck for his own constructive efforts. This observation creates a stimulus for comparative studies on the two theologians. In this essay I offer one such comparison by tracing an antithesis-synthesis strategy present in both Bavinck and Van Til. Though they share a motivation from the doctrine of common grace, the two theologians apply the strategy in distinct (though related) ways: Bavinck applies it for theological construction in a manner symbiotic with his organic ontology, while Van Til develops it into a self-consciously transcendental mode of reasoning and apologetics. This observation gives us insights as to why both theologians have been received (and misinterpreted) in similar ways, and that Van Til, though deeply dependent and influenced by Bavinck, developed Bavinck’s synthetic tendencies in ways that Bavinck did not do.

scholarly journals Introduksi pada Iman Reformed

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-189
Author(s):  
John M. Frame
Keyword(s):  
Cornelius Van Til ◽  
Van Til

Tulisan ini hanyalah suatu “introduksi” kepada iman reformed, jadi bukan merupakan suatu analisis yang mendalam. Namun jelas tetap bermanfaat untuk mengetahui gambaran sekilas di saat awal studi saudara. Bersama-sama dengan tulisan ini, saya mengharapkan saudara membaca Pengakuan Iman Westminster, Larger dan Shorter Catechism, serta “tiga bentuk kesatuan” dari gereja-gereja reformed di benua Eropa: Pengakuan Iman Belgia, Katekismus Heidelberg, serta Kanon-kanon Dordt. Semua itu merupakan ringkasan yang indah dari posisi doktrin reformed, yang disajikan secara utuh, ringkas, dan tepat. Heidelberg adalah salah satu karya devosional yang agung di sepanjang masa. Saya juga percaya ada banyak manfaat yang bisa didapatkan dari pembukaan ringkasan teologi reformed karya Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith.

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